ITHACA, NY – The proposed Tompkins County Center of Government project represents a massive construction and redevelopment project for county officials, one that will always have its share of glitches and obstacles.
However, ongoing discussions with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) over key grants for the project have raised certain obstacles that could delay the plan’s timeline or fundamentally change the announced plans if county officials choose to go down that path.
The Ithaca Professional Building and the Key Bank building are both located on the same site where the Center of Government (COG) is currently planned, in the 400 block of North Tioga Street in Ithaca.
The site itself is located in a historic district. SHPO has viewed the two buildings as adding to the site’s historic value. To be eligible for the grant, the agency’s historic preservation regulations must be met while plans move forward for the five-story, 55,000-square-foot building, which is expected to cost around $40 million.
Deputy Planning Commissioner Megan McDonald and Facilities Director Arel LeMaro updated the Downtown Facilities Special Committee on Monday on the progress of discussions between SHPO and county officials.
“If we propose to demolish some or all of these buildings, they would expect us to explain that we have considered our options and why this option is feasible and the others are not,” McDonald said.
According to the meeting discussion, SHPO prefers adaptive reuse of the existing buildings and their use in the COG project.
If the cost of incorporating the existing buildings into the COG plan is substantially higher than demolishing them and rebuilding them, McDonald said the state will make exceptions to the financial burden and county officials could seek grants elsewhere.
Regardless, both LeMaro and McDonald said hiring a design team is the next critical step, a process the county has already begun — LeMaro said the application review team prefers consultants with historic preservation experience.
McDonald said once the county selects a design team, it will have the expertise needed to “make the strongest case” for the county’s chosen plans for the site.
As the conversation continued, frustration grew among some district officials.
“Should we look at another option? Should we look at building somewhere else where we could build a big, modern office building and not have to worry about construction down here?” Lane asked rhetorically, suggesting that the county should use other sites as a bargaining chip in talks with SHPO. “The city needs to know, SHPO needs to know. There are other options out there.”
So far, the COG discussion has focused primarily on the properties on North Tioga Street.
Democratic Reps. Veronica Pillar and Rich John both opposed Lane’s proposal, although John said he understood the sentiment.
County officials can still back away from that decision and change locations if economic challenges prove too burdensome, an option that gained momentum among lawmakers during the committee meeting.
However, it would be a significant change, and Pillar, among others, pointed out that moving the COG out of downtown would undermine the stated goal of centralizing services and departments to provide easier access to as many people as possible.
“I’ve always been a strong advocate of a downtown government center, centrally located in the county,” Dawson said. “But a few more hurdles might convince me that we should explore another option.”
Alternative locations were neither specifically mentioned nor discussed at the meeting.
Chairman Randy Brown also led a brief discussion among committee members about the possible inclusion of the City of Ithaca in the COG plans, which he said came from an unnamed member of the Ithaca City Council.
The idea was overwhelmingly rejected by committee members because they felt that involving the city at this point in the process would cause too many complications.
